audio

Heights of Alma, All the Way to Sligo

Fiddle and flute, unknown - piano, Columbia 33069-F. Tom Morrison's son James recalled Coleman and his father recording some tunes for Columbia, "including a polka, and they thought no more of that record than they would of a cigarette butt in the street." They were quite a bit more enthusiastic when they got paid, though. Columbia was a good deal more well-heeled than other companies, it seems. The polkas played here are the Rakes of Mallow and the Rose Tree. Morrison's cue to the piano player by loudly firing off an F# and the false ending are more humorous than embarrassing.